Expert dedicated to tracking Bow Valley wolves

When Guenther and Karin Bloch wake up early each morning, they have the same routine: pack up the dog, drive to the Bow Valley Parkway from their home in Canmore and look for wolves.

Not just any wolves, though.

The Blochs are checking on Spirit, Faith, Yuma, Trixster and Sunshine — also known as the Bow Valley wolf pack, considered one of the most critical in the Canadian Rockies.

“We go forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards and try to figure out where they are,” says Guenther Bloch. “In the winter, you get a little bit of help because there is snow on the ground and you can have a look for tracks and scat and urine spots.”

Their dog, Timber, also helps, yipping quietly when he smells the wolves.

Once they find the pack (Bloch prefers to call them a family), they sit and watch.

“We observe them, whatever they are doing,” he says during a recent interview along the Bow Valley Parkway. “Hunting, scent marking, interacting, playing, whatever they are doing.”

The couple has been driving the parkway almost every day for 23 years, taking a special interest when the Bow Valley wolf pack arrived in 2008.

Bloch, a canid expert who moved to Canada from Germany more than two decades ago, is trying to get a clearer picture of the wolves’ behaviour.

He says the alpha female, Faith, is the bold type. Believed to be around the age of six, she usually has between five and seven pups every spring.

Faith likely gave birth to a new litter in mid-April and is now denned with the pups, while the other wolves find food and bring it to her until the young are old enough to be introduced to the world.

It’s information that officials at Parks Canada appreciate.

“Wolves in general are one of our most wary carnivores in Banff National Park,” says Jesse Whittington, a carnivore specialist with the Banff field unit. “They are very elusive and most wolves try to avoid encounters with people if at all possible. However, there is quite a bit of variability among wolves and wolf packs.”

There are at least five or six packs in the park at any given time, he says.

Wolves have a large range, up to 1,000 square kilometres.

The well-known Bow Valley pack uses the area around the Bow Valley Parkway and travels as far as Bow Lake. The Fairholme pack, which is mostly grey-coloured wolves, spends its time between Banff and Canmore; the Red Deer pack travels from Ya Ha Tinda, east of the park, to the Bow Summit; and the Clearwater pack is mostly in the backcountry around Banff. There’s also a pack that sometimes spends time around the Panther River, and there’s another pack that splits its time around Spray Lakes, Bryant Creek, Palliser Pass and into Kananaskis Country.

The exact number of wolves is unknown, but Whittington estimates there are between 30 and 40 in Banff National Park.

The Bow Valley pack is the most tolerant of people, but still wary.

“They hardly ever come close to town,” he says, noting they have GPS collars on Spirit and Faith to keep an eye on their movements. “We’ve done lots of research that shows if human activity increases, wolves are more likely to avoid those areas.”

The Bow Valley pack, however, grows up near roads and railway tracks.

“Consequently, they are more likely to be travelling across roads during times when people can see them,” Whittington says. “The Bow Valley pack is the pack visitors are most likely to see when they visit Banff.”

It’s a situation that could change when the Bow Valley Parkway travel restrictions go in as planned next spring. Park officials are planning to close the parkway between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. from March to June — a critical time for wildlife — each year.

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